Yesterday the Dallas Stars stood pat and opted to not trade their top centerman Brad Richards. The commitment to Richards was stunning considering that Richards is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and with Dallas’ ownership being in a league-watched bungle, their ability to offer him a long term, financially lucrative deal is severely hampered.

A funny thing happened on the way toward the playoffs for the Stars today, though, as a report emerged from Ken Campbell of The Hockey News saying that a new name has emerged from the darkness to express interest in buying the Stars. Owner of the Central Hockey League’s Allen Americans, Douglas Miller, is reportedly interested in buying the Stars and may have an offer on the table for the team already.

…Miller’s offer is believed to be for about $110 million cash, but it would likely be publicly announced as somewhere in the $225 million range. That’s because in addition to the purchase price, Miller would assume about $20 million in existing debt, most of which is owed to the NHL for the advancement of television and revenue sharing money to help keep the Stars afloat. Also built into the purchase price would be four years of losses estimated at about $25 million per year.

According to a source with knowledge of such matters, the Stars have lost between $26 million and $28 million over the past 12 months. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman insisted at his All-Star Game news conference in January that the league is not funding the Stars, but multiple sources have confirmed the Stars have been using advances on television and revenue sharing money and have required more than one advance to continue to pay the bills as a new owner is sought to replace Tom Hicks.

With that sort of investment into the team, it would go a long way into curing the ills of the Stars and the ultimate failings of Tom Hicks. If it’s something that could be completed by July 1, it’s also the kind of financial dedication that could help keep Brad Richards in Dallas.

As with all things Dallas, there’s the specter of having Mavericks owner Mark Cuban having interest, something to which Campbell’s piece hits on. Cuban’s had interest in the past of buying the Pittsburgh Penguins, an ovation that Cuban had as part of a group with Dan Marino and other Pittsburgh-based investors. That interest didn’t pan out and Cuban went back to hanging on to the Mavericks and getting half the revenues from playing at American Airlines Arena in Dallas.

The one lure to owning the Stars for Cuban would mean that he’d control all sports revenue that went through the arena if he owned the Stars as well. Of course, with the NHL being a big of a bear to make it work financially for some owners, Cuban’s been reticent to get involved in NHL wrangling.

As always with these reports, they come shrouded in mystery and questions about the validity of everything involved. For now though, Dallas Stars fans have a reason to be hopeful that they’ll get new ownership soon and a reason to think that Joe Nieuwendyk didn’t make a mistake by not trading Brad Richards.